Until recently I was building a new deck on my home (a gorgeous deck plan). Well, the other day there was a knock on our door and a Bellevue City Code Enforcer greeted me. He informed me that we had
My son is four years and he asks a lot of questions. On our drive home from our celebration of my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary Pascal was in exceptional question asking mode. Dallas & Leanne were driving down with us
Part 1 Part 2 Marshall Ganz, Ever wonder “Why David Sometimes Wins.“ Marshall Ganz has written an outstanding paper addressing David’s unlikely victory and the idea of strategic capacity in social movements. Dr. Ganz also is part of the team
A comment in a student’s paper this Spring has been lingering in the back of my mind. Dale Helt re-framed the classic Evangelical litmus-test question by exchanging the word “personal” for “communal.” The question, as he voiced it was, “Do
Seattle’s Fremont Solstice parade/festival was this past weekend. Rachelle and her neo-monastic community monkfish abbey (formerly known as ThPM) participated in the parade as a funky recycling deally. As they wove through the crowd of parade-onlookers they gathered trash embodying an exuberance
Here is Alan Roxburgh’s report on the report on “Forming Leaders for the Missional/emerging Church consultation which took place in April. The event was sponsored by Fuller/Allelon and brought together 40 leaders from USA, Canada, UK, New Zealand and Australia.
I you have visited my site before you will know that I am in the process of constructing a more relational theology. Thomas Kuhn (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) has helped us to see that anytime the is a paradigm
When I first encountered Miroslav Volf and his theological work I was elated. I found myself sharing his books with anyone around who would lend me their ear even if just for a moment. Needless to say I don’t agree with
One of my favorite books of 2003 was Conrad Gempf’s Jesus Asked. Gempf’s new book is titled, Mealtime habits of the Messiah: 40 encounters with Jesus. It is a glorious journey through Christ’s radically open table (though of course is
Jim Henderson, Seattle-area evangelism guru, friend and director of Off-the-Map (not the Muppet guy – that was “Henson”) has a new book coming out on June 21st: a. k. a. “Lost”: discovering ways to connect with the people Jesus misses
Lynette, Pascal and I invite you to spend a weekend with them our home. Spend time talking and sharing lives, discussing relational ministry and relational church-planting. And spend time with their Christ-commons (Quest). Connecting weekends are a great retreat and stimulus
Reporter, Peter Strimer for the Episcopal Voice wrote “The Emerging Church” (June 2005) after visiting the “mission_shaped_church” learning party sponsored by Karen Ward and COTA. The article has a great cover photo of Ryan Marsh. And there’s a “dwight-quote” on
I’m delighted to have Brian McLaren as a guest on this journal today. Brian wrote the following post, and he will be engaging here over the next couple of days. Ask him any questions you want, raise issues, enjoy and
After sitting with the question of “the nature of leadership” for some time, I find myself moving toward a very simple understanding. Is leadership is about conversation. Leadership has less to do with the clarity of vision, and much more
Well, I’m back to the world of the web connected. After a week in LA at Fuller Seminary and in Portland at George Fox University without access, it feels so good to have my networked-mind back. The time at the
Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger at Fuller and Mark Priddy (Allelon) are bringing a group of Avant-church influencers together for a few days to discuss church, networking, training, leadership, etc. I head out very early this morning. This will be
Cellular Mitosis is cell division in which one somatic cell divides to produce two cells each of which has the identical genetic content (same number of chromosomes) as the original somatic cell. An interesting question to reflect on is when
I’ve been giving some more thought to the connections of Cellular Mitosis with church growth and church planting. The body of Christ appears to be a not unlike a multi-cellular living organism. Multi-cellular living organisms contain more than one cell
Yesterday I participated in one of the most promising North American emergent-type events I have seen in some time. Karen Ward and the Church of the Apostles sponsored “mission shaped church: a learning party.” A couple of things that were
Presenting “emerging theology” at the mission_shaped_church learning party sponsored by Karen Ward and the Church of the Apostles. April 17, 2005 Peace, dwight
Yesterday Joel, Tim and I went to a day long conference with Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch (authors of, The Shaping of Things to Come). The event was hosted and sponsored by Zoe, a church community in Tacoma, pastored by
The Church of the Apostles (Seattle, WA) and Moot (Westminster, UK) are sponsoring what is promising to be a great conversational space. Click for more details. peace, dwight
Please pray for 84 year-old Pope John Paul II. His health is failing and the Roman Church is preparing for his home-going. As the Pontiff for about one-half of all the world’s Christians. He has already received the “Holy Viaticum”
Sitting with the wise replies to the Emerging Orthodox post I am impressed again with the great wisdom which comes from engaging the Holy Tradition. The wisdom of “us” (which always includes the presence of God by the Holy Spirit)
Sky posted a few questions and challenges in response to my March 24th entry. Sky asked: “Can you explain how the statement that the Protestant Reformation gave the bible ‘back to the people’ applies to the vast communities in the
Karen Ward pointed me to an interesting article on dangers of the “emergent church movement.” The article cited Dr. Donald A. Carson (with his new book, Becoming Conversant with Emergent), Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr. (President of Southern Baptist Theological
There have been times throughout Western history when people talked as though the spiritual mattered, and the physical did not. Soul = good; body = bad. The move to holistic viewing of the human person in community seems like a
